What am I Getting Myself Into??

Today was an interesting day at work. I am still in orientation and sometimes that makes it easy to forget that I am getting into a job working with children who have serious mental health needs. Not just working with them but being a main care provider all day long.

Today was focused on safety- mainly the possibility of using restraints. Please do not imagine this:

Restraints now a-days, or at least at my job, are based more around using your own body weight to get the child down. You don't put weight on the child in any way that may cause asphyxiation.

Luckily this agency uses restraints as an absolute last possibility but there is still a chance that one day I may have to "take a kid down". Tomorrow I have to be tested to make sure I know how to restrain. The instructor (an enormous six foot five guy) taught us how to restrain safely and effectively.

I am not a violent person. I have a hard time being aggressive or having confrontations and the instructor picked up on that immediately. That may be due to my bad habit of just smiling whenever I am nervous. So, of course, I became the target to use the techniques first every single time. Basically I proceeded to flail around with the female who was standing in as an example client. While I understand why I need to know this I really hope I NEVER have to use this technique. Although I suppose if I did want to use restraints I may be in the wrong field!

So wish me luck with my test and- more importantly- that I will be more effective at helping a kid calm down verbally!!